Amy, Bram and Chandra will be the first named storms of the coming winter, the Met Office has announced, after receiving more than 50,000 suggestions from the public.
The UK weather agency, working with Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Dutch forecasting service KNMI, said the annual naming list helps raise awareness of dangerous weather and encourages people to prepare.
Although many nominations were submitted in tribute to loved ones – and in some cases to pets – officials stressed the programme is not about novelty.
“Naming storms isn’t just about giving them a label, it’s about making sure people take notice,” said Rebekah Hicks, chief meteorologist at the Met Office. “When a storm has a name, it becomes easier for the media and public to talk about it, share information, and prepare.”
Storms have been named jointly by the three countries since 2015, with each list running from September to the following August to coincide with the autumn storm season. In the past year six storms were named, ending with Storm Floris on 1 August.
Names are chosen alphabetically, with Q, U, X, Y and Z omitted, and are drawn from public submissions across the three nations. Among the most popular was Amy, selected as the first female name, while Isla was frequently nominated by families who said their daughters left “chaos in their wakes”. Violet was chosen in tribute to a child born prematurely who was described as “every bit as fierce and unstoppable as a storm”.
Other selections reflect personal stories. Ruby was submitted in honour of a grandmother, Stevie was inspired by the Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks, and Oscar was put forward for a family cat remembered for “loving the wind in his fur”.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin added that climate change is making extreme weather more likely. “When it’s hot, it’s that much hotter,” he said. “And we know that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, so a storm is likely to drop more rainfall compared to a storm, say, decades ago … there’s an increased chance of flooding.”
This year’s names, and the country they came from, are: Amy (UK) Bram (Ireland) Chandra (Ch-an-dra) (Netherlands) Dave (UK) Eddie (Netherlands) Fionnuala (Fee-new-lah) (Ireland) Gerard (Jer-ard) (Ireland) Hannah (Netherlands) Isla (UK) Janna (Yah-nah) (Netherlands) Kasia (Ka-shaa) (Ireland) Lilith (Netherlands) Marty (Ireland) Nico (Netherlands) Oscar (UK) Patrick (Ireland) Ruby (UK) Stevie (UK) Tadhg (Tie-g) (Ireland) Violet (UK) Wubbo (Vuh-boh) (Netherlands).
